Danielle de Niese

Danielle de Niese

Danielle de Niese is a soprano from Melbourne, Australia, born in 1979, who grows up in Los Angeles and later becomes an American singer associated with opera and concert performance. She performs regularly on major international stages and has an exclusive recording contract with Decca.

Early career

She begins attracting attention in childhood through local television in Los Angeles, where she hosts a weekly arts programme for teenagers and wins an Emmy Award. At 18, she becomes the youngest singer to enter the Metropolitan Opera’s Lindemann Young Artist Development Program. A year later she makes her Metropolitan Opera debut as Barbarina in Le nozze di Figaro in Jonathan Miller’s production with James Levine.

Opera career

Her early operatic appearances include work with the Netherlands Opera, the Saito Kinen Festival and the Paris Opera. Her international reputation grows strongly after she sings Cleopatra in David McVicar’s production of Handel’s Giulio Cesare at the 2005 Glyndebourne Festival. She later appears at the Paris Opera, Zurich Opera, Royal Opera House Covent Garden, Netherlands Opera, Teatro Real and Lyric Opera of Chicago.

Her roles include Susanna in Le nozze di Figaro for San Francisco Opera, Despina in Cosi fan tutte at the Metropolitan Opera with William Christie conducting, the title role in Handel’s Rodelinda at Theatre an der Wien under Nikolaus Harnoncourt, Adina in L’Elisir d’amore at Glyndebourne, the title role in L’incoronazione di Poppea at Madrid’s Teatro Real, and the title role of Semele at the Théâtre des Champs Elysées.

She works with conductors including Charles Mackerras, Kurt Masur, Seiji Ozawa, Nicola Luisotti, Christophe Rousset, Marc Minkowski and Emmanuelle Haïm. Orchestral engagements include appearances with the New York Philharmonic, Cleveland Orchestra, National Symphony, San Francisco Symphony and the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields.

Recordings and recognition

De Niese records for Decca and releases her debut solo album, Handel Arias, in 2007. It brings her the New Artist of the Year award at the 2008 ECHO Awards, the 2008 Orphée d’Or from the Académie du Disque Lyrique, and a nomination for Classical Brit Award Female Artist of the Year in 2009. Her second album, The Mozart Album, follows in 2009, and Diva is released in 2010.

Television and wider profile

She also appears in television projects and builds a public profile beyond opera. She works with Mika on ITV1’s Popstar to Operastar and is the subject of the BBC4 documentary Diva Diaries, which debuts in 2010. She is described in the press as combining stage presence with comic and dramatic acting, and she receives repeated recognition for her soprano voice and performance style.

Background

She is born to parents of Sri Lankan and Dutch heritage.